DISCLAIMER: See previous chapers

That hat was something else. I munched my candy bar as I watched the news-exclusive play footage of a hat-clad Newman giving a tour of the newly completed Scientist Complex down on Ragol. The Newman strolled by the high-tech fences and little ring of buildings as he explained the goings-on, in a voice that reflected his flamboyant personality. Doc Montague really was a fun guy.

I turned away from the screen mounted on the wall to the rest of the public firing range, where Snipe was firing an Assault into a ring of targets.

"Hey, Sniper-San, you ever meet the good Doc?"

He blew off the rest of his ammo before turning to look at me through his helmet.

"The mad scientist? Wears a big pimp hat? Female android assistant? If I met that guy, I think I'd remember."

I snorted.

"Next time we do a raid I'll take you by the complex to meet him. I'm sure he'll love you, strapping young buck like you has plenty of spare organs to turn into explosives."

He shook his head slightly, probably rolling his eyes inside that helmet. He walked over, his gun vanishing as his jet-black Apsaras absorbed it into storage and guarded his shoulder like a floating Doberman on an invisible leash.

"Speaking of the Nerd Corral, I hear your android friend signed up as a guard."

I threw my candy wrapper into a trash chute with a swish.

"Yep, Snake's a security droid now. Checking IDs, waving people through the gate, saying have a nice day, conning those poor nerds out of their lab coats."

My prodigy let out a filtered chuckle as we walked to the exit.

"Hey, you know Snake's sister?"

He nodded as we got to the Transporter Center.

"…she says she got her claws on a conversion disk."

"…huh?"

I shrugged.

"She loads this disk, and it'll program her so that her repair systems rebuild themselves from a RAcaseal into a HUcaseal. She hasn't done it yet, Snake got it for her from a friend. She sold me most of her guns and armor, says she's starting fresh."

The guards waved us through to the tele-pad. Snipe stepped on first as I set the location code.

"So, long story short, got you some new guns."

Snipe shrugged nonchalantly, obviously an inch away from going 'Yippy'. I laughed and stepped up next to him as we vanished into a stream of energy and reappeared in the forest.

…it was pitch black out. You see, I hadn't specified the time of day to you. We had gotten up at three AM to get some shots at the range, I caught the early news, and we were now on Ragol right before the sun would come up. Want to know something stupid? The Government won't let anyone without government ID down here at night. Well, this was technically day so we were safe. We both cocked our handguns as we looked around for any sign of life. We nodded and stepped forward through the dew-covered foliage toward our destination.

Ten minutes of darkness later the sky slowly turned pink, and the orange sphere of life rose slowly and beautifully over the tree-splotched horizon as we saw in the distance our target. The sunrise revealed a huge, moss-speckled stone dome. We stopped to switch guns to adapt to the increased visibility and to admire the view. Just a tip, never use a rifle when you can't see in front of you.

"So…that's the Central Dome. What, we looking for dragons to slay?"

I flicked some hair over my shoulder as we tread on, both toting rifles now.

"…actually, Moon and I helped take it down. I'm just checking because we've been wondering if it dissolved completely."

My student was silent for a moment.

"…any other major feats of yours you left out when I signed up with you?"

I didn't miss a milli-beat.

"Yeah, I took down Dark Falz."

He chuckled flatly at my joke.

"I'm serous."

"So was I."

…more silence. He apparently would think that over for a while before he believed me and asked about it. After all, this was equal to my saying I'm the Holy Virgin. About ten losers a day said they beat Falz. Remember how I was the person who saw the team that do him in disappear before they could take credit? Well, maybe I twisted my story a bit. Soon we were walking on a man-made ancient temple knock-off towards the entrance to the dome.

"….if you…beat Falz, why did you…eh, not tell anyone and let people make stupid theories?"

…about time he regained consciousness. I sniffed at the lack of monsters on our trail before I answered.

"…if I told Terrel I killed his mutated daughter, you think he'd give me a gift basket and buy me dinner?"

Silence from my comrade as we spotted the teleporter to the Dome Interior.

"…so, how'd you do it? I've seen the documentaries, about time some one heard the truth."

I smirked and kicked a stray rock, skittering it across the concrete platform.

"…me and my team went in, the entrance sealed itself, and we took him on. Found out who it was from something it dropped after he fell. We left before the other Hunters got there, we were on the front line."

The RAmar stopped to kick another rock as he took it all in.

"…the front line…so you're saying you were the main offensive when the Ruins were being raided, and only 4 Hunters made it down there…"

…he was good at guessing…

"Yep."

He nodded in gentle triumph and watched me adjust my Beam crosshair.

"Who else was with you?"

I smirked, cocked my gun again and started moving again toward the telepad.

"I'll tell you in the dome. Move your ass, the Wolves usually wake up and look for breakfast around this time."

He jogged to catch up as we both stepped onto the telapad and once again warped out.

Immediately later we were surrounded by a sweltering heat. After adjusting to the sudden temperature change we caught sight of the place. Basically, we were underneath a giant gray dome, with dirt floors and molten rock around the edges. A sealed door at one end. The other featured a huge pile of charred sticks that on closer glance revealed themselves to be a pile of bones.

I walked toward the pile as Snipe shadowed me. Within twenty feet the pile was more clearly defined. Closest to us were two humanoid skeletons spread out on the dirt in front of the mouth of a gigantic skull featuring a snout, horns and fangs. Judging by the BBQ job, as the Dragon died it torched the two Hunters with it.

"…yikes…"

I nodded at Snipe's solemn remark.

"The bigger one was some FOmar the Guild put us with. He was a bit arrogant. As you can see, that didn't last."

Snipe stared in shock at my unfeeling speech. I went on.

"The smaller one with the long legs was his girlfriend, she was a civilian. But she dressed up as a RAmarl, bought a few guns and claimed to be a top level Hunter. These two tagged along with me because they wanted glory. Well, this is the only memorial they got."

The RAmar behind me walked up and bent onto one plated knee to examine the bones of the FOmar.

"…so, what about you and Moon?"

I shrugged, walking over to the dragon skeleton.

"I was leading the forces. Just a few days before Moon was sent down to Ragol for the first time, and when his teacher tossed him a saber he went nuts. He took out a whole sector before they caught up to him. They put him with me so they could control a force like that. He wasn't crazy, just a born Hunter."

I was now a foot away from the left side of the Dragon's fang-filled mouth. Now forever visible with its skin and scales gone. I reached out and tapped a long-cold fang.

"…Moon became a top-class Hero by the time Falz fell. Right after we first got paired together, along with the two stiffs over there, we ended up staring this guy down."

I kicked the giant skull as if punching an old friend in the shoulder.

"Moon was the one who really closed the deal. I shot it down from the air, he used his blades on its neck, and those two ran for cover. They planned to wait for us to die in the fight and take the credit and cash."

Snipe walked over to the dragon skull, now holding something. It was a scorched Section ID badge. He tossed it from hand to hand.

"…so, these two died trying to stab you in the back…and when Moon was just starting out he took out a Boss freak. Nice tall tale"

I ignored his disbelief and started circling the skull slowly, looking around for any details of interest.

"Moon was a fighter long before he signed up as a Hunter. His grandpa taught him everything about blades. All Moon did was get his hands on a weapon and do his thing down here."

I sighted a spinal column coming out the back of the skull and I stared walking the length of it.

"…why?"

...I stopped strolling to turn on my heel to see Snipe sitting cross-legged between the horns of the dead lizard. How he jumped on top of the skull without making a noise, I'm not sure.

"...why what?"

I wish I could see his face through that visor-thing.

"…why did Moon go to Ragol?"

I thought for a second, my rifle leaned over my shoulder.

"…honestly, he just fought for a good cause…his mom always taught him that when peace is threatened, fight to restore it."

My black armored friend stared in response.

"…kind of odd advice…"

I nodded in agreement and turned to keep walking next to the tree-trunk sized spine. I stopped at the fork in the tail and went to turn back when I noticed something. There was a soft orange glow coming from a hole in the back of the skull, right below Snipe's dangling left foot.

"…hey, Kid, check out the inside of that thing."

He nodded, fell onto his feet, took out a handgun for safety and peered into an empty eye socket. I saw him reach in and pull out an orange item container. He examined the label before jogging down the spine toward where I was standing.

"Says something about double swords on the label."

I raised an eyebrow and grabbed it from him to look at the label. It said it was a set of Muashis.

"…well, they're a set of those swords where Hunters use one in each hand."

Snipe shrugged in vague understanding before taking the metal box back.

"Mind if I pawn these off? They're common, but are worth a bit. Besides, neither of us could us it if we tried."

I shrugged and examined the thigh bone nearest to us.

"Don't spend it all in one place."

A low blow. Snipe here only spent his credits on food and weapon upgrades. And probably on helmet polish, he never took it off. He glared through his visor and let his MAG absorb it into thin air. Then he spread his feet to shoulder width, and breathed deeply through his filter. Right as I asked what was wrong he shot his hand up and a flash of light burst out of his opened fist. Soon there was a rotating teleportation ring between us, Snipe catching his breath from the slightly difficult spell.

"…well, my husband is pulling his weight after all…"

Snipe was too busy taking deep breaths to get my joke, I sighed in defeat and stepped into his Ryuker warp. He did the same after finally filling his lungs, he was still getting used to spells.

Ten minutes later we were regrouping in my living room back home. Him still in full gear, me in comfortable civilian garb. I was guzzling a bottled water down as Snipe examined two Asian-esque swords sitting in his lap, his new unusable weaponry. He'd finally started to recover from casting that spell.

"…I'm guessing your MP isn't that high…the new guys get physically tired from spells, Shade just gets a headache after a few hours."

A grunt, he was busy examining his new toys.

"…Moon got pretty far without even learning a spell, don't guilt yourself into going Force."

"…yeah, like I've been meaning to come out of the closet."

The next thing I knew I was bent over the arm-rest, laughing so hard my sides hurt. This kid was starting to emulate me! I had a son! I could write him off on my taxes. After I came to I saw Shade had walked through the door and was now changing in the other room. The thought of him taking off his robe got me going all over again, by the time the guffaw turned into a giggle Shade was sitting next to Snipe on the couch, staring at me.

"Honey, were you collecting those scented herbs on Ragol again? We both know the government considers them narcotic."

I rolled my eyes at the thought of using drugs to get even crazier than I am while sober. Shade started flipping channels, asking how our day went.

"Our adopted son here used a Ryuker."

Soon enough shade was ranting about development. A minute later he was going through his office drawers, yelling about how Snipe may be ready to use offensive spells. Snipe meanwhile just sat there with his swords quietly, always the calm one. While Shade went off to sort out spell disks, Snipe leaned toward me slightly and said as quietly as he could through his filter.

"…Sonnet? Who was in your team in the Ruins?"

I blinked, realizing I hadn't mentioned who had taken down Falz.

"…me, my effeminate husband over in the next room, Moon, and eh…Misfit."

He looked a bit surprised at hearing that Shade went up against Falz. Then the last name got to him.

"…Misfit?"

I played with my nails. My friends say I act too aloof.

"He's an android. Not sure what kind exactly, he's a prototype."

This answered my student's question, judging by how he didn't ask anything else.

Soon afterwards I got a phone call from the Hunter Specialist at the Guild.

"Chico, what's up?"

He rolled his eyes.

"Sonnet, we have a situation. A RAcaseal just walked into registration and signed up for Re-Assignment. We don't handle many Ranger-Hunter conversions."

"…so you've met Sarah…"

He blinked.

"…you know the droid?'

I shrugged.

"Don't sweat it, I'll talk to her. She IS getting a conversion though. I think raining a Hunter would be a nice change for me."

Chico (my nickname for Choral) sent me her paperwork. I said my goodbyes and went back into the living room, where snipe still roosted.

"It's official. Sarah is becoming a Hunter Android, and I'm going to train her."

Snipe just nodded.

"…any ideas for a name for her? She hates her current one."

He didn't even move to look at me as he responded.

"…she once said she wanted to be a HUcaseal with hair down to her knees…"

I grunted, confirming she'd said that.

"…how about Hornet?"

I stared at the little helmet-head for a few seconds before brightening up and smirking.

"…very fitting. So, wanna go shoot a bit at the range? You need to work on your one-handed shots, and I need a sugar fix."

He agreed.